The two Inklings, reverted back to their original colors, were utterly shocked at what they saw in the last mission. Nathan had suspected that the Octarians had been the ones responsible for the missing Inklings, but the blood stain surprised him. Diana was most shocked, but looking back she had a feeling it wasn't the Octarians' fault. Perhaps the Inkling scrapped his or her arm on some glass while escaping? The two arrived at base a few minutes after Smith contacted them.
"We're back," said Nathan.
"Excellent, you're unharmed!" said Smith outside Cuttlefish's house, "I just finished the underground base, too."
"Huh?"
"It's not too far, it's just right under this house. It's much bigger than it though, it's quite a complex. The Octarian kettles are much, much farther underground, and the walls have a special material in them that prevents the Octarians from discovering this place. Let's go in, shall we?"
Smith lead them into the house. He pressed down a blue button and turned it about 30 degrees clockwise. A section of the wall opened up like a door to reveal an elevator. The elevator doors were silver and the door frame was glowing blue. The three got in and Smith pressed the B1 button, labeled "Main Base". The elevator headed downwards and stopped at the B1 floor.
The elevator doors opened and they entered a large room. It had dark dark blue walls, almost black, with light blue lights. There were multiple screens on the north wall, the huge one being the main supercomputer, with four other smaller screens on each side of the big screen and a control panel in front of it. Equipment was on the walls, and there were multiple other, smaller computers on a long desk along the west wall. Some were blueprints, some were maps, and there was more for other purpose too. There was also a door that lead to another hallway that lead to other places throughout the headquarters.
"Oh my gosh!" said Diana, "This is incredible! Did you build this?!"
"Cuttlefish and Agents 1 and 2 helped me," said Smith.
Cuttlefish was standing with Agents 1 and 2 by the supercomputer. "We all contributed to the construction of this place," he said, "Smith built the computers and technology, including that big supercomputer! I helped design the design the place-"
Agent 1 interrupted, "While me and Agent 2 here helped out with developing some for the software and the glowing stuff was made by us, too. We make a lot of stuff that lights up, ya know."
"I see," said Nathan, "This is actually really awesome!"
"We put a lot of effort into this," said Cuttlefish, "It's going to be our new HQ. But anyway, I'd like to introduce you two to Agents 1 and 2 here. They're my grandsquids!"
Agent 1 wore a magenta short sleeve t-shirt with the Cuttlegear logo with a "1" in the middle on the back over a three-quarter sleeve black shirt, she had a magenta beanie with a yellow star on the side on her head, and wore black boots with magenta soles. She also wore magenta, fingerless gloves.
Agent 2 wore a white t-shirt with a green jacket with the Cuttlegear logo with a "2" in the middle on the back, similar to Agent 1's outfit, she had a green sports visor on and a face mask over her face, and wore boots similar to Agent 1's, only they were white and had green soles. She also had white gloves on.
"So you're the other members of the Splatoon?" asked Nathan.
"Yep!" said Agent 1, "We are! Me and Agent 2 here were Agent 3's support team!"
"Yep," said Agent 2, "Before we...just kinda stuck around here. But this time, we're-"
"Gonna help you in the battlefield!"
"Ugh...Sometimes, not always."
"I see," said Diana, "So are you two sisters?"
"Cousins, actually," said Agent 2 answered.
"Oh!"
"So, now that the team has been assembled," said Smith, "We can go over our plans as a whole."
"Yes," said Cuttlefish, "Our camera were off during that last part of your missions, Agents 4 and 5 due to Smith having to do updates on the supercomputer. So what did you see?"
"Something big," said Nathan, "It was a gigantic Airship! It was literally an enormous flying metal ship, equipped with really powerful thrusters to keep it airborne. I also saw some super big blasters on it, too!"
"I spotted a few Splatling guns on it, too!" said Diana, "That big ship seemed capable of doing some serious damage! I'm not sure who was driving it, but we do know who the commander is."
"His name was Nero. He was about a half of a foot taller than me and had a long tentacle bang over his right eye. He had a steel chest plate on with a single shoulder guard, and he had torn tan pants and dark boots."
"I've encountered him before!" said Agent 1, "He was huge! Nero's not one to mess with. I heard rumors that when he gets angry, ho ho, he get's FURIOUS!"
"I've heard those same rumors," said Smith, "He's definitely not the one I'd wanna go against in a duel."
Diana was looking away, and Nathan noticed. "Is something wrong, Diana?"
"What?" said Diana.
"You were looking away..."
"I was just looking at that door over there. I'm curious about what's behind it."
"I'll give ya the grand tour once we're done talkin', okay bucko?" said Cuttlefish.
"Sounds good to me."
"Great! Anyway, those guys have really stepped up their game."
"Who?" asked Agent 1.
"Oy...He's obviously talking about the Octarians," said Agent 2.
Cuttlefish continued, "I can't remember them being THIS strong since the Great Turf War decades ago!"
"Wait..." said Nathan, "You were IN the Great Turf War?!"
"Matter of fact, I was kiddo! I was the leader of the legendary Squidbeak Splatoon! I used to be able to take 'em down with my bare hands! But...I've aged...a lot. But that hasn't killed my spirit!"
"You are pretty courageous and have a strong spirit, gramps!" said Agent 1, "You're my inspiration!"
"He could've been Agent 3's too," said Agent 2, "But I guess you never know."
"Thank you, kiddos!" said Cuttlefish, "You two really are the best grandkids ever!"
"Thanks gramps!" said Agent 1
"You're welcome! But anyway, back to the task at hand..."
"Right," said Nathan, "Those Octarians are pretty rough."
"Yeah," said Agent 2, "They seem way more aggressive then they where the last time we fought them."
"Maybe Octavio snapped," said Smith.
"Octavio?" Diana said in confusion.
"The Octarian King," said Cuttlefish, "He's the big boss. He's got to be the one who ordered the Octarians to be squidnapped."
"So...if we find him, then their entire army falls apart?"
"Yeah," said Agent 2, "But the problem is that getting to him is gonna take a while. A LONG WHILE."
"Well," said Nathan, "We'll have to find more kettles and get to different areas until we find him."
"Some of the domes are actually connected," said Cuttlefish, "So one kettle could lead to two domes. We'll have to explore, the more we do, the more kettles we'll find. Eventually, we should find the key to the boss kettle and then we can find even more. The process then repeats itself 'til we find Octavio."
"Alright then," said Nathan, "Let's head back down and see what we can find."
"We're coming with ya!" said Agent 1.
"Alright," said Diana, "Then let's move out!"
Meanwhile...
"Listen well soldiers!" said Nero in front of about fifteen Octoling soldiers aboard the Airship, "The Inklings are planning on rising against us once again. We must do everything we can to keep them from crushing our hopes of victory. We do NOT, I repeat NOT, want a repeat of our last uprising or the Great Turf War."
As Nero kept talking on, one Octoling by the name of Abigail was caught up in her own thoughts. She wasn't thinking about Octarian victory at all, but rather something else. Nero noticed this.
"Abigail!" he yelled.
"Oh! Uh! Wh-What?!" Abigail said, frightened.
"Pay attention for once!"
"Yes sir..."
"...Oh? Is this a tone of frustration I hear in your voice?" Nero walked up to her and lifted Abigail's chin up so that she faced him, her face clearly showing that she was frustrated. "You get more interesting every day. Tell me, what are you thinking about?"
"You know what I'm thinking about, Nero."
"Please don't tell me you're thinking of THAT again. Because that is just ridiculous! Ha!" Nero laughed, with the other soldiers laughing alongside him. "Give it up already." She let go of Abigail and walked back to the center of the room. "You're in this army for a reason, ya know. I expect a certain criteria from you, and many things with you still need a bit of work."
"Do you think I care?" Abigail said harshly. All of the other soldiers gasped and sighed and stared at Abigail.
"...No, I didn't. But you must still follow my orders regardless. You are all dismissed until the next call." All of the soldiers left, including Abigail, who gave Nero one last glare before exiting. Nero stood in the center of the room, muttering to himself before saying, "That Abigail is such a mysterious Octoling...Makes me wonder how she could have managed to make it this far in life."
